Apparatus for roasting and sintering ores.



A. S. DWIGHT.

APPARATUS FOR ROASTING AND SINTERING ORES. APPLICATION FILED ocT. 21. 1914.

1,215,637. Patented Feb.13-,1917.

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APPARATUS FOR ROASTING AND SINTE RING ORES.

' APPLICATION FILED OCT. 21, 1914. 1,215,637. Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

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Patented F6b.13,1917.

WLW ,Q/ 061 A. S. DWIGHT.

APPARATUS FOR ROASTING AND SINTERING ORES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. ZI, 1914.

filjfililj m m W'itnasaws:

sulfur-bearing ores and has for its object'to UNITED strArEs rATENr OFFICE.

ARTHUR s. DWIGHT, on NEW YORK, N. Y., assromon 'tro DWIGHT AND LLOYD SINTER ING COMPANY, 1110., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., a GGRPORATION or DELAWARE.

ArrAnA'rUs FOR ROASTING AND SINTERING onus.

Original application filed Jiily 7, 1-913,

and usefullmprovements in Apparatus for Roasting and Sintering Ores, of which the following is a specification, reference belng had-therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to the roastlng of provide mechanism adapted to make possible the utilization, to a greaterextent, and

with less expense, than has heretofore been possible, of the valuable constituents of the ore, and particularly the sulfur, which it is the purpose of the roasting to eliminate or carryoff. The gases which pass oif during the roasting of sulfid ores by processes now in vogue contain small proportions of sulfur dio'xid often as low as from one to two per cent. by, volume, and rarely as high as four or five per cent. Such gases, if dis charged into the open air, are destructive to vegetation and injurious to animal life, but cannot behandled very economically for the recovery of the sulfurwhich they contain, owing tothe relatively enormous vol-- times of gases that are required to be treated. In the roasting andsintering of sulfurcar-- rying ores by whatis known as the Dwight and Lloyd process, the proportion of the 5111- fur dioxid'passing from the furnaces, ma-' chines or. apparatus, has been considerably increased, but even under the most favorable conditions the percentage remains low, requiring large flue areas to properly handle the gases, and comparatively expensivetreat- .ment when attempt is made to recover the sulfur therefrom. I In treating certain sulfid ores by the said I Dwight and Lloyd process it is found that a part of the elemental sulfur is volatilized and carried awayby thegases in the form of an exceed' gly fine powder or sublimate which deposits on the inside ofthe'fluesor against any surface with which "the gases "may come in contact. Ihis fine sulfur gives rments unt'ilthe coating is consumed, which serious trouble by unexpectedly, becoming ignited and burnin fiercely fora few mocombu stion often causes injury 'to'the fan .-'handling the gases, and in some cases causes 7 damage to the fines themselvesowing to the.

are caused to move Specification of Letters Patent.- Patented Feb. 13, 191 7.

Serial No. 777,732. Divided and 191-4. Serial No, 867,561.

this application filed October 21,

fact that the ignition and combustion is so rapid as to simulate an explosion.

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide means for eliminating the last from the. apparatus, thus enabling smaller v liu-e areasto be employed, and permittin a more economical treatment'of the gases 1' v the utilization of the sulfur.v These results I accomplish by constructing .the roasting and sintering-apparatus in such a way that I can successively treat separate bodies ofi nited sulfu'r-bearingore with the same b y or volume of air, the air and the gases produced during the roasting of the first body of 'ore treated being delivered to the second body of ore being treated and supplying the oxygen for the roasting operations them taking place.- The air has added to it the sulfur dioxid produced d'i'iring the roasting of the second body of ore, thus increasing the volume of sulfur dioxid contained in the gases that are finally delivered tothe apparatus" employed for beneficiating the sulfur there- 'in. Ihave been able to enrich the gas finally delivered to nine percent. of sulfur dioXid, and I believe that this further increased. I

The preferred embodiments of my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in Whichi Figure 1 is a side'view of a machine-for roastlng and sint'ering sulfid ores.

Fig. 2 is" a top plan view of theapparatus shown in Fig. 1.

proportion can be still Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are sideviewsof other -Beferring particularly toFigs, 1 and 2,

A designates an'appa'ratus of-well knownconstruction for roasting and sintering ores.

small career pa 'ets 3 that serve'as the carriers or sup orters for the-ore during the roasting and .sintering operations .The cars indicated by the arrow a, 'by mechanism,

' forms of apparatus by which the invention may be carriedout.

' It consists essentially of an .endlesstrack 2 arranged to sup ort and directiaseries of owly, in the direction typified by the wheels 4:. Suitable means for feeding the ore to the pallets or ore holders 3 are provided, these being typified by the feed hopper 5, and means for igniting.

.joints with the edges of the air box 7, to

prevent air leakage, as is well understood. A fan 8 is connected, by. the pipe 9, with the air box 7 and operates to cause the air to pass through the ore in the pallets or holders above the box, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. This fan is connected by a pipe 10 with a hood 11, arranged over those pallets that are situated betwcenthejvallets above the air box 7 and those at the discharge end of the apparatus which are about to deliver their roasted and sintered contents.

The air and gases delivered to the hood 11 are caused to pass through the ore contained in the pallets below the hood and into an air box 12, that is connected by pipe 1:? witha fan 14 which discharges into a plpe 15, and this in turn delivers to the apparatus, designated diagrammatically at 16, where the gases are treated to utilize the sulfur which they carry.

The hood 11 is so disposed with reference to the path of travel of the pallets 3 that lts edges come quite close to the upper edges of the pallets. Thus a close joint permitting practically no leakage of gas may be formed, although this is not necessary because a slight space may, often with advantage, be left between the edges of the hood and the. edges of the pallets. This is because, in practice, the amount of gas discharged into the hood 11, which is regulated'by the speed of the fan 8, is somewhat less than the amount of" gas taken off by the suction caused by the fan 14. It follows from thls that some atmospheric air will be drawn under the edges of the hood 11, thus preventing the escape or leakage of any sulfurous gas, which leakage would be objectionable and disagreeable. In the apparatus just described the fans 8 and 14 are suction-fans. The gases taken from the wind or air box 7 by the fan 8 will ordinarily contain from two to four per cent. of sulfur dioxid, and more or less, depending upon the character of the ore, elemental sulfur in the form of a sublimate. In these gases there is still suflicient free oxygen to carry on the roasting operations in those names? pallets or ore receptacles that occupy the space between the hood 11 and the air box 12. The gases taken from the box 12 by the fan 14 and delivered to apparatus 16. are found to be much richer in sulfur dioxid than those taken from the air'box 7, the

- proportion being raised to nine per cent. or

more. It is found that in an arrangement such as shown, the sulfur which passes off into the air box 7 in the form of-a subli-' livered into the hood 11 and finally disappears in passing through the ore contained in the pallets below the hood 11, being there oxidized.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated an apparatus inwhich are employed non-traveling containers for the ore during the roasting operation; Referring to this view, 17, 17 designate independent ore receivers, each mounted upon trunnions 18, 18 so as to be free to be inverted, for discharging its contents. Means, either manual or power-operated, may be employed for effecting the mvertmg operations of these ore containers, such means being handles 19.

Each container has typified by the crank a perforated grate 20,

an ore-receiving space 21 above the grate,

and an air box or chamber 22 below the grate. The air chamber 22 communicates with the outside through one of the trunnions 18, which is hollow.

23 represents the fan disposed between the containers 17, 17 connected on one slde by pipe 24, with the hollow trunnion 18 of the ore receiver 17, and on the other side, through pipe 25, with a hood 26 that fits closely over the upper end of the'ore holder 17 This hood is movable up and down, the pipe 25 having a slip joint connection to permit this, in order to allow the hood to be lifted to expose the ore receiving portion of the container to allow it to be filled, or to permit the holder as a Whole to be tilted for discharging the roasted and sintered ore.

v A pipe 27 leads from the hollow trunnion 18 of the ore holder l7 and delivers the gases to a treating apparatus 16, not shown in this view, but similar to that indicated in Fig. 1.

I have not in this view indicated the igniting means for setting fire to the ore at its device may beiemployed, the igniter or igniters being movable relative to the holders to permit the latter to be tilted for discharging and to permit the use of the hood 26.

In the apparatus last described it will be understood that the fan 23 operates to cause air to pass through the body of ore contained in the holder 17 by suction and below the pallets nearest the igniter, designated 7, with the fan 8, and connectthe furous "through the. body of ore in the holder 17 by plenum. In uslng this apparatus the ore in the holder 17 should be ignited .before that in the holder 17 is ignited in order that the hood 26 may be brought to place before sulgases are delivered through the pipe 25.

In Fig. 4 Ihave represented another apparatus embodying my invention. Here are indicated twoapparatus, A. A", similar in general principle to the apparatus illustrated in Figs, 1 and 2, WllQl'BfiE-G employed a series of moving pallets for carrying the ore; In the apparatus A air induced to pass through the bodies of ore carried by the pallets 3 by'suction induced by a fan 28. The proportions of the apparatus and the speed at which its various parts are moved are so adjusted that a complete roasting and sintering of the ore takes place during the time any particular body or mass thereof is passing the air box 7 In the apparatus 'A. the plenum method of forcing the air through the ore is employed, the fan 28 de livering to the hood 29. The machine A" is entirely distinct fromv the machine A, though the two apparatus are preferably arranged clbse together so that the length of the ducts between them is reduced as much as possible.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated another feature'of my invention, applied to an apparatus similarin; general features to that indi cated in Fig. 1, similar reference letters being employed for similar parts in these two views, Figs. 1 and 5.

The air box 7 below' the series ofpallets nearest the igniter is divided into two chambers 7 and 7", by a movable partition 30 arranged to be manually adjusted, as by means of a screw 31.

It is found thatthe gases passing from the masses of ore nearest the igniter are rela: tively weak 1n. sulfur dioxid, but containa relatively large amountof elemental sulfur in the form of sublimate. I therefore connect that chamber of the air-box 7 which is outlet of this fan with the hood 11. the same as in the apparatus illustrated .in Fig.1. But the chamber 7 of the air box. is connected by a duct 13' with the fan 14, which is also connected with the air box 12 located below those pallets covered by the vhqo'tit 11. Thus the stronger gases or those containing a larger amount of sulfur dioxid, are 'delivered directly to the fan '15 and by it'to the apparatus 16 where ,the gas is treated, only part of the gases from the'air box, 7 being delivered tothe hood 11 and caufsed to pass a second time through a, -body or bodies of ignited and sintering ore; to be freed of the; sublimatewhich they carry, and

enriched in sulfur dioxid. In using an apparatus such as shown in Fig. 5 the sition of the partition 30 is adjusted to suit the working of the apparatus.

If lead ores are treated according to the process and by means of apparatus such as here described and illustrated, the gases will carry more or less volatilized lead or-lead fume.- A considerable portion of this will be recovered when the gases pass through a second bed ofignited and sintering ore, the same as it takes up-and recorers the sulfur.

sublimate, as already described; for the of the ore, means for passing air there through and causing combustion therein, means for collecting the air after it passes through the ore and also the sulfur gases carried thereby the aforesaid. means being" arranged as substantially set forth to form a porous sinter body from the.ore, means for causing the air and sulfur gases in the said collectorto pass a second time through the sintered ore to further effect the desulfurizing thereof and add sulfur gases to those al-' ready forth.

2. In an apparatus for the roasting of sulfur-bearing ore, the combination of two grate surfaces each adapted to support a layer of ore during the roasting-operation, an air duct leading from the lower side of one grate surface to the upper side of the other grate surface, and means for causing air to flow downward through an ignited layer of-ore onv the first grate surface, then through the air duct and finally downward through an ignited layer ofore on the second grate surface.

3. In an apparatus for the roasting of sul in the said air,.substantially as set fur-bearing ore, the combination of two vgrate surfaces, each adapted to support a.

: rangement being such that the fan sucks air downwardthrough a layer of ignited. ore on the first grate surface and forces the Same air downwardthroug'h a layer of ig:

.-nited ore on the second grate sur ace.

4. In an apparatus for roasting sulfurbearing ore, the combination of two grate surfaces, each adapted to support ore while being roasted, a'box for collecting the products of combustion of the roasting ore on each grate surface, means for dividing the air box under one of the grate surfaces into two chambers, a hood covering the oresupported upon one of the grate surfaces, an air duct leading from one of the chambers of the divided air box to the said covering hood, a fan for causing the products of combustion from said chamber to pass into the said hood, and ducts leading from the other chamber of the said divided air box and from the air box below the air boX of the hood-covered grate surface for taking the products of combustion therefrom.

5. In an apparatus for treating a mass of ore containing a combustible component, the combination of means for supporting a relatively thin layer of ore prior to its treatment and also supporting a layer of treated ore, means for igniting the ore of the first said layer at its surfaces, means for causing air to flow through the last named layer after ignitlon, and means for conducting theproducts of the combustion of said layer to and passingthem through the second said section of treated ore.

6. In an apparatus for treating an ore mass containing a combustible, the combina tion of a conveyer adapted to transport a relatively thin layer of ore and permit its I being ignited at its surface, means for causing air to flow through the ore layer after ignition and also causing said air to pass through the same ore after it has been transported .to a-second position.

7. In an apparatus for treating a mass of ore containing a combustible, the combination of means for supporting two stratum sections of the ore in a relatively thin layer and permitting it to be ignited at one of its surfaces, and means for successively passing the same current of air after ignition two or more times through the same stratum section. I

8. In an apparatus for treating a mass of ore containing acombustible component, the

combination of a conveyer adapted to support the ore in a relatively thin layer and permit it to be ignited at one of its surfaces and to carry it from one position to another, and means for successively passing a current of air one or more times through the said 

